LINK: Pres Obama in MI today: “We can do BOTH!” (Create jobs now,

[ProgressiveEconomist]

erase long-term deficits with a balanced approach that requires sacrifice from EVERYONE.)

For twenty minutes today, I turned away from stock market volatility on Bloomberg and CNBC to watch C-SPAN. They covered live a rousing speech focused on jobs and the economy from President Obama’s road trip. The speech reminded me of Obama’s successful campaign speeches during 2008, with plenty of applause lines and jabs at obstructionist Republicans.

Speaking at an advanced battery manufacturing plant in Highland Michigan this morning, President Obama called for immediate passage of bills “teed up” in Congress that would help create jobs. These bills would extend the 2 percent payroll tax break for wrokers, fund a new employer tax credit for hiring returning veterans, fix roads and other transportation infrastructure, ratify trade agreements, and update patent law.

He said of those who want him to call Congress back in session, “The last thing we need is for Congress to come back to Washington, argue even more, and continue to get nothing done.” He called on the national audience to contact their Congressional representatives and demand that they support his job initiatives.

The President promised “week by week” new initiatives that would create even more jobs. He also said that a long-term solution to the structural deficit would have to include closing loopholes and getting the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes before cutting student loans or healthcare for seniors.

C-SPAN announced a little while ago that they would re-air President Obama’s speech at 9:35 pm Eastern, just before a scheduled broadcast of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

C-SPAN’s video library already has the speech online, at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/FuelEffici .

IMO, it’s a MUST-WATCH for all DUers.

[Gin]

1. what are his job initiatives? Last time I checked...he didn't have

a plan for creating jobs...if he does and I missed it...shame on me.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

2. Did you read the OP? I listed several of his many job initiatives

being held up by Republicans in Congress.

[Armstead]

3. That free trade thing really bothers me

[ProgressiveEconomist]

5. Don't you want to see "Koreans driving Fords, Chevies, and Chryslers"?

[Armstead]

8. Sure, but I'm not holding my breath...Same con-job they sold us in the 90's

[ProgressiveEconomist]

9. How do you know? Do you have a link? Or do you just hate the President?

[Romulox]

17. Look up the President's broken promise to renegotiate NAFTA.

:hi:

[Armstead]

19. I don't "just hate" Obama. I've followed this issue over the years.

And I'm not going to placate you by going on a wild-goose-chase for links that you will most likely automatically reject.

If you care you can do your own homework.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

25. I do my homework. Do you do yours?

[Armstead]

28. Then you don't need links from me.

If you hadn't pulled out the "hate Obama" meme, I'd be happy to engage. BUt since you resorted to that....buh bye.

BTW I did watch the speech. Weak tea.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

32. In other words, no.

[Armstead]

33. In other words You're not worth the time

[ProgressiveEconomist]

34. IOW apparently you CANNOT turn your original reply into a coherent statement and then

back it up with a link.

Why post in my thread if you can't express yourself clearly or back up what you intended to say?

[Armstead]

35. Because when you resorted to the "You hate Obama" meme in response to a simple statement...

criticizing one of his policies, that's when I tune out. That's just shallow one-dimensional bullshit.

I've had numerous debates about free trade here over the years. But I it's not worth arguing with insulting boosterism.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. “There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong

with our politics. There is something wrong with our politics we need to fix. We know there are things we can do right now that will accelerate growth and job creation. … But time and again we’ve seen partisan brinksmanship get in the way.”

That's one of my favorite paragraphs from the speech. I'm sure we'll hear it again this week. But whether it makes it to the nightly news is a big question.

[Romulox]

6. Unrec. nt

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. Why? Are you a Republican?

[Romulox]

16. Because the President's "jobs program" is tax cuts for the rich + "free trade" with South Korea.

MASSIVELY politically tone deaf for the President to brag on his jobs record in Michigan, of all places, too! :eyes:

[ProgressiveEconomist]

24. GRAPHIC: Monthly private sector job count since Obama’s inauguration

Even a shortening of a NEGATIVE blue bar represents job growth. You can see that President Obama quickly turned increasing job losses under Bush (red bars) to job GAINS. There has been positive monthly job growth for the last 17 months straight.

[pintobean]

43. Is that for China, or projections for Korea?

[spanone]

10. k&r...it was a great speech

[ProgressiveEconomist]

21. Thank you. At last ONE REPLIER SO FAR actually clicked on the link

or saw the speech live.

[TNLib]

11. When he says sacrifice from everyone he needs to say it

Cut the crap already. If he means tax the Rich and cut Medicare then just say it for fuck's sake. I'm tired of the tap dance.

[theophilus]

22. I agree strongly. The time for weasel words is long past. Blame Republican

economic policies. Blame Dems who support them. Name names. Separate the wheat from the chaff.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

36. Wouldn't that spoil the Prez's "Country before Party" plea to Independents and fed-up Rs?

Listen to the very end of his speech: The President says something like, "If you agree with me, whether you're Independent, Republican, or Democrat, call your representatives in Congress, Tell them to pass the Transportation, Payroll Tax, Trade, and Veterans' Employment bills NOW!"

A President has to be President of ALL the people, no?

Remember his Y2K Democratic convention keynote speech, "There is no red-state America, there is no blue-state America, there is just the United States of America"?

[Doctor_J]

12. Everyone but the rich have ALREADY sacrificed

no more sharing by working people and poor people. Period.

[girl gone mad]

13. Um, wow..

no we can't do both now.

He still doesn't get it.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

20. Who doesn't "get it"? He's NOT saying do both now. He's saying jobs now,

structural deficit reduction when the economy is stronger.

It's simple economics.

[girl gone mad]

23. It's dumb economics.

He needs to stop talking about deficits.

[mmonk]

14. Voo doo.

Emphasis on the doo.

[Little Star]

15. words. Just more words!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

18. “The problem is not that we don’t have answers. The problem is that

folks are playing political games. … It’s time to put aside ultimatums. … Congress needs to go back home, listen to folks’ frustration with all the gridlock, … and with the desire to score political points even if it’s at the expense of the country.”

IMO you'll never see that part of the speech on the nightly news (though maybe on Keith Olberman, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, or Rev. Al). You have to watch it on C-SPAN.

[Warren DeMontague]

26. I agree. Balanced approach: Raise taxes AND cut the military budget.

For even more balance, we can end the 40 Billion dollar a year drug war AND legalize and tax marijuana.

BALANCE!

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. You can't erase long term deficits without creating jobs now.

The latter is a prerequisite of the former.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

31. EXCELLENT post, almost worth wading through the mindless hostility toward the

President in the vast majority of other posts to this thread.

In previous speeches, the President has made your point explicitly, with estimates of the effect on the ten-year deficit of every one percentage point decline in unemployment. (due to followers of the late great macropolicy economist Arthur Okun)..

This time, he and his speechwriters omitted this crucial point. Let's see if it comes back in other road-trip speeches this week.

"Okun's Law" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okun's_law ) implies that one of the quickest ways out of debt is to cut short the bottom of the business cycle. Once back at work, people can again pay taxes, boost consumer demand, and help the governmenterase debt and put aside resources (such as borrowing capacity) for a rainy day. Bill Clinton, who oversaw the creation of more than 20 million jobs, build up $5 trillion in budget surpluses and put the country on target for complete elimination of the publicly-held debt by 2006.

IMO most Republcand know all this and are consciously misleading the American people into confusing temporary economic stimulus spending with trillions of pure waste on "defense', "homeland security", and "tax cuts" tilted toward the very wealthy.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

44. Did a bit of research and found ten-year deficit is VERY sensitive to small shifts in

growth rate and unemployment rate assumptions.

IMO, these sensitivities are so high that the Republican argument for cutting spending now is blown out of the water. See
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1737392&mesg_id=1740744

[Name removed]

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[taught_me_patience]

30. These pathetic jobs "initiatives"

won't create shit. Barak "Hoover" Obama strikes again. We need 100x more than this small shit.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

37. Did you see any TV or cable coverage of this speech? Ed Schultz had about 30 seconds of

it last week.

To counterbalance Michelle Bachmann Iowa Straw Poll coverage, I saw a few seconds of it on nightly news shows tonight.

[TheKentuckian]

38. Problem is the proposals do almost nothing to create jobs.

Hell, the trade agreements will probably cost more jobs than the rest of the nonsense can cobble out if they do anything.

The only hope for jobs is the tiny infrastructure bank deal and it is too small over any projectable time line to have much of any impact on infrastructure or jobs. The tax scams are a joke and the payroll holiday deal a dangerous one that reduces revenue further while lending credibility to the nonsense that says Social Security is a deficit driver.

The dude is just a straight up traditional Republican, no "lite" needs to be added. Republican-regular. Poppy Bush with a better looking family and a tan.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

39. "just a stragiht-up traditional Republican"? Did you see the whole Obama speech?

Did you catch coverage of the Republican "debate" in I Do you see no difference between Obama and Bachmann?

[TheKentuckian]

45. Hence, the "traditional". In another era Bachmann would just be a Bircher nutjob

rather than mainstream.

In all reality, George W. Bush seems different than Palin, Bachmann, or even Perry. Certainly his father or Bob Dole would have lots of daylight between them and the Teabagger types that are in the forefront a few years later.

I don't care about differentiating the drift much because doing so allows the current nuttery to one day be mainstream or even moderate sort of like how Anthony Kennedy is currently framed as "moderate" despite being an arch conservative and one of the more right wing jurists in 100 years.

[Brickbat]

40. Another great speech? Just what we need in these trying times!

[Name removed]

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